The Young Shakespeareans
ALISON KORMAN Artistic Director / Founder
Alison is an entrepreneur and classically trained actor who, after working in Mexico and Senegal, returned to New York City's Metropolitan Opera and 92nd Street Y before founding her own arts management company, Korman+Company. During 25 years procuring and producing $5 million annually in still photography, she simultaneously performed off-Broadway and in various theatrical venues abroad. Living in Los Angeles since 1997, she has served as an Account Director for the Taproot Foundation, performed for hundreds of schoolchildren with the LA Assistance League’s Nine O’Clock Players, and began teaching Shakespeare to Title 1 elementary school children in South Los Angeles in 2009. She conceived the idea for The Young Shakespeareans Program in 2010, officially founded the organization in 2017, and has developed its curriculum in the conviction that unleashing the awareness and potential of Title 1 public school children transforms their lives while serving the broader community. Alison continues to perform in theatre, film and television. She received her degree in Special Education and Foreign Language from Washington University in St. Louis.
of John Adams Middle School
CRISTIN BARBU
Cristin Barbu has served as a science teacher In South Los Angeles for over 23 years, and as the Gifted Magnet Coordinator at John Adams Middle School for over 3 years. He believes in providing students in Title 1 schools with a strong, well-rounded education with arts playing an important part. Cristin is confident that TYS’ program is very beneficial for students, and that it empowers them and builds their confidence. He is very proud that John Adams is the first middle school where the program was implemented, and despite COVID school closures and quarantine, had such a great success with their students' online production of "Romeo & Juliet". He is also excited that TYS' Virtual Program in Performance & Production Design will be inaugurated at John Adams in Spring 2021. Cristin has an engineering background, earned his Teaching Credentials at California State LA and UCLA, and is also a musician and composer.
